Fighting Against Pneumonia in Times of Coronavirus

The Lancet Global Health has published the conclusions of the first Global Forum on Childhood Pneumonia, which was held at the CosmoCaixa in Barcelona last January and was organised by 9 leading institutions in global health and childhood, including ISGlobal. Three hundred and fifty representatives from international, multilateral and government agencies, NGOs, scientific leaders and activists from over 55 countries participated in the Forum, which ended with a declaration that defines the actions to be taken to avoid the deaths of millions of children over the next decade.

Pneumonia kills 800,000 children under five years of age every year, particularly among the poorest and most marginalised communities in low-income countries. “This is all the most tragic because, with the adequate diagnosis and treatment, these deaths are completely preventable,” says Quique Bassat, ICREA researcher at ISGlobal and chair of the Forum’s steering committee. “The forum’s major achievement was to catalyse an unprecedented collaboration to reach the targets of the Global Action Plan for Pneumonia and Diarrhoea – less than three child deaths for every 1000 births, by 2030,” adds Basssat, first author of the manuscript.

Rather than defending a vertical strategy focusing on one single disease, the Global Forum emphasises the need to ensure universal access to primary health and vaccines, reduce air pollution and improve child nutrition. The recommendations build on six pillars: develop and implement pneumonia control strategies; prioritise vulnerable populations; finance pneumonia treatment and control; accelerate innovations; track progress; and strengthen partnerships. It also provides examples of actions taken as a result of the Forum.

Importantly, the investment in pneumonia surveillance systems, diagnosis and treatment would also reduce the impact of epidemics by emerging pathogens, such as Covid-19, in low-income countries. Aid provided through international mechanisms such as the World Bank, the Global fund and Gavi should be maintained or even reinforced, ensuring that the fight against coronavirus is compatible with the fight against other diseases.

“It would be catastrophic if the strategy against a pandemic against which we do not yet have effective tools led to an increase in child deaths that are completely preventable, losing progress made over the last three decades,” says Gonzalo Fanjul, director of Policy at ISGlobal and also a co-author of the document, together with Núria Casmitjana, Training director at ISGlobal.

Reference

Quique Bassat, Kevin Watkins, Stefan Peterson et al. The first Global Pneumonia Forum: recommendations in the time of coronavirus. Lancet Global Health. 2020 Jun; 8(6): e762–e763. doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(20)30125-X